Fuelling

productivity
and progress

ISO/TS 29001
set to become oil
and gas industrys
unique QMS
standard
by Ken Peurifoy, Vice President
and Senior Consultant of Quality
Support International, Inc.
Spring, Texas and
Lanny Gookin, President and
Senior Consultant of QMR
Consulting, Inc. Houston, Texas

successful partnership between

ISO and the international oil
and gas industry has resulted in
the publication of a technical specification for implementing ISO 9001:2000based quality management systems in
the sector.

ISO/TS 29001:2003, Petroleum,

petrochemical and natural gas industries Sector-specific quality management systems Requirements for product and service supply organizations, is
envisaged to become the common and
unique basis for the oil and gas industrys quality management system requirements worldwide.

ISO/TS 29001:2003
is envisaged to become
the common and unique
basis for the oil and
gas industrys quality
management system
requirements worldwide .
ISO/TS 29001 is available for use
by manufacturers of oil and gas industry equipment and materials (upstream
and downstream), service providers to
the oil and gas industry, purchasers of
ISO Focus November 2005

15

Main Focus
equipment, materials, and services. The
document can also be used for organizations to perform auditing and certification. This single worldwide system will
replace the need for multiple systems,
audits and certifications.

Why industry specific?

Why does the oil and gas industry
need an industry-specific quality management system ? The current worldwide standard for quality management
systems, ISO 9001:2000, is a generic
one that must satisfy the needs of many
types of industry and organization. It
reflects feedback on the previous ISO
9000 versions that the requirements
were not flexible enough and did not
allow for adaptation for software companies, manufacturers of simple consumer products, and services such as
insurance and banking.
In contrast, due to the critical needs
of the international oil and gas industry,
this sector requires rigorous conformity to engineering, user and regulatory
requirements. The industry handles fluids (liquids and gases), often at high pressures, through a variety of products and
processes. Considerations for the safety
of personnel, including the public, are
of paramount importance. Additionally, protection of the environment and of
business continuity (maintenance of rev-

I S O S TA N DA R D S F O R
THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

BP Plc.

Drilling and production

equipment

enue streams, both for companies and for

national economies) require a high level
of operational integrity.
A key element in the assurance
of product and service safety and business continuity is the quality management system implemented by goods suppliers and service contractors. Industries in which the results of catastrophic
failure are intolerable have traditionally embraced and required quality management system standards that are more
prescriptive.

Supplementary
requirements

ISO 9001:2000 requires the

objectivity and impartiality of the audit
process . ISO/TS 29001 also requires
the same objectivity plus independence with regard to both design reviews
and final acceptance of product. These
requirements are key to ensuring additional safeguards for purchased products and services.
Design reviews. ISO/TS 29001, Design
and development review Supplementary, requires... A final design review
shall be conducted and documented.
Individual(s) other than the person
or persons who developed the design
shall approve the final design.

Drilling and production

equipment
Drill stem design and
operating limits (ISO 10407)

Marine drilling riser couplings

(ISO 13625)
Drilling and well-servicing
structures (ISO 13626)

Downhole equipment
Subsurface safety valve
equipment
(ISO 10432)

Wellhead and christmas tree

equipment (ISO 10423)

Drilling and well-servicing

equipment (ISO 14693)

Packers and bridge plugs

(ISO 14310)

Pumping units
Specifications (ISO 10431)

Lock mandrels and landing

nipples
(ISO 16070)

Drill through equipment

(ISO 13533)
Inspection, maintenance,
repair and remanufacture of
hoisting equipment
(ISO 13534)
Hoisting equipment
(ISO 13535)
ISO Focus November 2005

Objectivity, impartiality
and independence

A technical specification, ISO/TS

29001 incorporates the verbatim text of
ISO 9001:2000 and includes detailed,
sector-specific requirements for design,
development, production, installation
and service of products. To assist users
of the document, the requirements of ISO
9001:2000 are given in boxed text, followed by specific guidance and supplementary requirements for its implementation within the industry. Although some
of the supplementary requirements may
be viewed as not specific to the oil and
gas industry, they are needed in ISO/TS
29001 in order to ensure that the requirements are more explicit and can be more
readily verified/audited.

Rotary drilling equipment

(ISO 10424-1)

16

The supplementary requirements

of ISO/TS 29001 make the document
undeniably more prescriptive. These supplementary requirements help to ensure
that additional preventive actions are taken by the organizations manufacturing
goods and/or performing services for
use in the oil and gas industry, which
are often subjected to very harsh and
demanding environments.
Supplementary requirements that
are very appealing to purchasers, engineers and users within the oil and gas
industry are detailed below.

Sucker rods (pony rods, polished rods, couplings and

sub-couplings) (ISO 10428)
Subsurface safety valve
systems
Design, installation, operation
and repair (ISO 10417)

Slide-pocket mandrels
(ISO 17078-1)
Progressing cavity pump
systems for artificial lift
Part 1 : Pumps
(ISO 15136-1)
Part 2 : Drive heads
(ISO 15136-2)

Fuelling
productivity
and progress

Final acceptance. ISO/TS 29001,

Final acceptance of product ,
requires... Personnel other than the
persons who performed or directly
supervised the production of the materials or products shall perform final
acceptance and product release.
Internal audits. To further enhance the
objectivity and impartiality of the internal audit process, ISO/TS 29001:2003
goes even further than ISO 9001:2000
to require that internal auditors are
personnel independent of those who
performed or directly supervised the
activity being audited .
By requiring that independent
persons perform these tasks, ISO/TS
29001 goes a step further to ensure the
objectivity and impartiality of the end
results of the processes.

Field nonconformity
analysis
ISO/TS 29001 addresses nonconforming product that is detected after
delivery or use has started as field nonconformities and requires the organizations procedure for managing nonconforming product to include field
nonconformities. A vital, key aspect of
quality management systems for the oil
and gas industry is the requirement for
organizations to track and analyze field
failures/field nonconformities. Although
in some instances, field failures cannot
be retrieved for analysis, field failures
can often provide invaluable information which an organization can use to
develop and implement effective corrective and preventive actions.

Frequency of
management activities
ISO 9001:2000 requires management reviews and internal audits to be
performed at planned intervals. ISO/TS
29001 requires specific minimum frequencies for these management activities. By requiring specific frequencies
of certain processes and that specific
response times are identified, ISO/TS
29001 helps to ensure these processes
are performed in a timely manner.

Management review. To ensure that

management reviews are performed at
planned intervals that are not too infrequent, ISO/TS 29001:2003 requires,
The management review shall be
conducted at least annually.
Internal audits. ISO 9001:2000 requires
that organizations conduct internal
audits at planned intervals to determine whether the quality management
system conforms to requirements and
is effectively implemented and maintained. ISO/TS 29001 requires that
internal audits shall be scheduled
and conducted at least annually .
In addition, ISO/TS 29001 requires,
Response times for submission of an
action plan to address detected nonconformities shall be identified.

Control features
While ISO 9001:2000 has reduced
the number of documented procedures
required to six, additional documented
requirements have been required in ISO/
TS 29001 as control features. ISO/TS

29001 defines control features as an

organizations documented method to
perform an activity under controlled conditions to achieve conformity to specified requirements . This definition is
key to a number of the supplementary
requirements of ISO/TS 29001.

This sector requires

rigorous conformity to
engineering, user and
regulatory requirements.
For many industries, the reduction
in the number of procedures required
to specify process requirements was
a welcome relief. However, in the oil
and gas industry, the need for procedures or documented methods to perform processes under controlled conditions is considered necessary. A documented method to perform processes
assists personnel in performing process
tasks consistently to ensure the activities are performed in conformity with
specified requirements.

About the authors

Ken Peurifoy
served as Project
Leader of the
ISO/TC 67
Project Task
Group that
developed ISO/
TS 29001:2003
and was
Chairman of the
American Petroleum Institutes C4/SC 18
Task Group that developed the API
version of ISO/TS 29001, API
Specification Q1 7 th Edition . A former
Chair of APIs Committee on Quality for
eight years, he is also a member of the US
Technical Advisory Group to ISO/TC 176.
Mr. Peurifoy has been a quality
professional for over 27 years. He is Vice
President and Senior Consultant of
Quality Support International, Inc. in
Spring, Texas, that provides quality
consulting and support primarily to the oil
and natural gas industry.
Tel. + 1 281 370 6065.
Fax + 1 281 251 5477.
E-mail ckpeurif@flash.net

Lanny Gookin
is the ranking
consultant
member of API
Subcommittee
18, the
Subcommittee
on Quality that
controls API
Spec Q1. A
registered Lead Quality Management
System Auditor and ASQ Certified Quality
Engineer, he has authored numerous
articles and given presentations on quality
in the oil and gas industry over the past
20 years.
Mr. Gookin is President and Senior
Consultant of QMR Consulting, Inc. in
Houston, Texas, a quality consulting,
training, and auditing organization that
has established QMS for oilfield users,
engineering companies, manufacturers,
and suppliers throughout the world.
Tel. + 1 713 974 1872.
Fax + 1 713 974 6336.
E-mail lanny@qmrc.com
Web www.qmrc.com
ISO Focus November 2005

17

Main Focus
Documenting the best way to perform a process, as well as documenting
the required acceptance criteria for the
process, will be key to many industries,
particularly with the upcoming changes to the age demographics of the work
force in the industry. Within the next few
years, many workers in the oil and gas
industry will be reaching retirement age
and younger workers will need to rely on
documented methods to perform processes and convey lessons learned.
The changing average age and
loss of experienced workers in the oil
and gas industry has prompted many
organizations in the sector to actively
pursue knowledge management (KM)
technologies and ensure that valuable
experience is documented and retained
for future employees. Documented control features help ensure that KM is preserved for those organizations that utilize ISO/TS 29001 as the basis for their
quality management system.

18

ISO Focus November 2005

gas industry. Particularly desirable were

the requirements for some documented
procedures for quality elements that were
relinquished by ISO 9001:2000.
The initiative to develop ISO/TS
29001 began during the API Subcommittee 18 and Committee 4 on Qualitys
January 2002 winter meetings in Tampa,
Florida. The final intent was to publish
the seventh edition of Q1 as a joint API/
ISO standard. API submitted a new work
item (NWI) to ISO/TC 67 in April and it
was accepted on 16 June 2002.

Liaison with ISO/TC 176

ISO/TS 29001:2003 was published on 15 September 2003 and the

API version, API Specification Q1, 7th
Edition was published on 15 June 2003,
becoming effective and mandatory on
15 December 2003. The documents
are identical except for one additional
requirement in the API document relating to API administration.
These documents add to the continuing list of ISO/API standards that
are developed by joint work groups
and committees and are published by
both ISO and API to serve the oil and
gas industry.

Early on, ISO/TC 67 requested and

received liaison with ISO/TC 176 (the ISO
committee responsible for ISO 9001:2000).
Mr. Jim Pyle (London Quality Centre) was
appointed as the ISO/TC 176 liaison member to work group 2 and he attended several meetings of the group both in the US
and in Europe. Having been a key participant within ISO/TC 176 and the development of ISO 9001:2000, Mr. Pyle was
extremely helpful in providing valuable
insight and suggestions on how the work
group should approach various issues and
supplementary requirements that are the
trademark of the document.

Cooperation between
ISO/TC 67 and the API

Development
of ISO/TS 29001
After the publication of ISO
9001:2000, the API Quality Committee
determined that many of the requirements
that were deleted from the ISO 9001:1994
version were still desirable for the oil and

Photo Hydro

The new document was the result

of collaboration between the American
Petroleum Institute (API) and ISO technical committee ISO/TC 67, Materials,
equipment and offshore structures for
petroleum, petrochemical and natural
gas industries.
In addition to being the Secretariat
of ISO/TC 67, API has a long history of
cooperation and support for ISO/TC 67.
The relationship goes back to the reactivation of ISO/TC 67 in 1989. Shortly thereafter, ISO/TC 67 fast tracked a number
of API standards that were then adopted
as ISO International Standards.
When it came time for the API
(Quality) Subcommittee 18 to revise API
Specification Q1, Specification for Quality
Programs for the Petroleum, Petrochemical and Natural Gas Industry, developing a
joint API-ISO version of the longstanding
QMS standard was a major priority.
According to John Modine, Director of Certification Programs for the American Petroleum Institute (API), ISO/TS
29001 is expected to result in increased
international acceptance of time-tested,
sector-specific quality system requirements on a broad scale for the worldwide

oil and gas industry . He defines it as :

One industry one standard.
He adds : The API Quality Committee knew that API Spec Q1 (6 th Edition) contained extremely valuable quality
system requirements for the international
oil and gas industry. The committee concluded that the best way to increase international acceptance would be to draft the
next version of API Spec Q1 (7th Edition)
with a joint API/ISO committee with the
final result being a joint publication of API
Spec Q1 and ISO/TS 29001. The ultimate
goal is to obtain worldwide acceptance
and use of the standard.

Identical documents

Conclusion
Due to the critical nature of products, services and processes within the
petroleum, petrochemical and natural
gas industry, additional requirements
were needed for quality management
systems of goods suppliers and service
contractors within the sector. The development of ISO/TS 29001 has fulfilled
that need and has brought a more comprehensive quality management system
to this critical industry.
In order to best serve the interests
of the industry, and as a method of better
ensuring the safety of personnel and the
environment, engineers, purchasers, users,
manufacturers, service organizations and
suppliers should adopt this standard as
the basis for oil and gas industry quality management systems.